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Clay Guida, a shaggy-haired ball of energy, beat former WEC lightweight champion Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, putting a stop to Pettis' procession to a title fight against either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard.

Pettis, who punctuated his WEC lightweight title win with a spectactular bounce off the cage and kick to the head of Ben Henderson, was in line for a title shot when the UFC absorbed WEC late last year. But Maynard's challenge against Frankie Edgar ended in a draw, and the two were immediately scheduled for a rematch, leaving Pettis to fight Guida in the co-main event of the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter on Saturday at the Pearl, a cozy theater in Las Vegas' Palms resort.

Guida said in one of the UFC's pre-fight hype videos that if Pettis tried one of his flashy kicks, he would deposit "Showtime" on the ground. Early in the first round, he did just that, catching a kick and plowing through Pettis for the takedown. Pettis fought back with a submission attempt and limited damage, but Guida controlled him for the rest of the round.

In the second round, Guida again got an early takedown but struggled to gain a substantial advantage. Pettis eventually worked his way to his feet and landed a head kick with a loud smack clearly audible over the lively crowd in the intimate venue.

Pettis also tried a spinning kick to the body, but Guida shook it off and got another takedown as the crowd chanted, "Guida! Guida!" Pettis tried again to throw his legs around Guida's head and set up a submission attempt, but the round ended before he could put Guida in trouble.

But Pettis came closer to the submission in the third round, reversing the second of Guida's takedowns in the round and working for an armlock that had Guida wincing. Guida slowly escaped and reversed the position, bringing much of the crowd to its feet. Pettis showed little the rest of the way, and Guida won all three rounds on all three judges' scorecards.

Guida said after the fight that he's in the mix in the division. But UFC President Dana White told MMA Fighting before the postfight press conference that Jim Miller is ahead of Guida in line if Miller can beat Henderson in August.

Pettis doesn't regret taking the fight against a difficult opponent.

"I have some holes in my game, and Clay Guida and (coach) Greg Jackson came in with a great game plan," Pettis said.

In the main event, Tony Ferguson went from villain to winner of The Ultimate Fighter's 13th season, knocking out fellow welterweight Ramsey Nijem in the first round. Ferguson, roundly booed upon his introduction after alienating castmates by making alcohol-fueled comments about family members, got an early takedown, landed several solid punches, shrugged off a couple of Nijem's combination and floored the fan favorite.

"That shot caught me completely off guard," Nijem said in quotes provided by the UFC. "I didn't see it coming. If he didn't land that, then who knows what would have happened. I need to make myself more relaxed and patient when I'm fighting. I was starting to rush things and I got myself in trouble, and it gave Tony the opportunity he needed to get the win."

Ferguson won the multifight contract at stake for the series winner and also claimed a $40,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night on a fight card that saw several dramatic finishes.

His path to the TUF title went back several years.

"I tried out for The Ultimate Fighter three times," he said. "I tried out at 185 pounds (middleweight) and made it to the third round."

Also Saturday:

• Two middleweight alumni from previous seasons of The Ultimate Fighter returned from long absences with a short fight. Ed Herman, who had missed time with a leg injury, landed a powerful uppercut to knock out Tim Credeur, who needed time off while doctors investigated a brain-scan anomaly, in 48 seconds.

Herman can sympathize with Ferguson as he tries to change the image set in many fans' minds after the show.

"People hold that stuff against you," Herman said, joking that someone refused to follow him on Twitter because he was a "jerk" on the show in 2006. "You can make mistakes and look bad when you're not a bad dude."

• Another TUF alumnus, Kyle Kingsbury, battered Brazilian light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado with knees to win a close but unanimous decision. Maldonado defended well and bloodied Kingsbury's face in the third round.

• The main card opened with a de facto third-place bout between the TUF season's semifinalists, with Chris Cope befuddling Chuck O'Neil with a variety of punches and kicks on his way to a unanimous decision. Cope negated O'Neil's grappling skills, keeping the fight standing for all 15 minutes.

Cope also was a controversial figure on the show, accused by other fighters of spying on them.

"I was watching everybody on the show because you never know who you're going to fight," Cope said. "Like Ed said, it could really do a toll on you."

• In the last preliminary fight before Spike's live broadcast, veteran knockout specialist and crowd favorite Jeremy Stephens nearly won by submission against Danny Downes, holding a deep kimura (armlock) in the second round and holding a rear naked choke as the final horn sounded. He settled for a unanimous decision in the lightweight bout.

• George Roop pulled the upset of the night with a dominant performance against featherweight Josh Grispi, finishing with a hard punch to the body that dropped Grispi and forced referee Herb Dean to stop the action in the third round. Grispi, a dominant WEC fighter who was scheduled for a title bout before champion Jose Aldo was injured, dropped to 0-2 in the UFC.

• Two contestants from the recently-concluded TUF season, Clay Harvison and Justin Edwards, put on an early contender for Fight of the Night honors, going the distance in a sloppy but entertaining back-and-forth affair. Harvison started slowly but won a split decision over the fading Edwards. During the TUF season, both fighters lost to the eventual finalists – Edwards lost to Ferguson and suffered an injury that kept him out of the wild-card fight, while Harvison won his first bout despite a dislocated finger before losing to Nijem in the quarterfinals.

• In the other preliminary bout featuring TUF castmates, Shamar Bailey won the bout but not the crowd with a unanimous decision over Ryan McGillivray. Bailey used his superior wrestling skills to control McGillivray but never showed the jiu-jitsu or ground-and-pound skills necessary to finish the fight, and the crowd showed its displeasure with resounding boos.

• Former WEC bantamweight title contender Scott Jorgensen won his UFC debut with a rare one-punch knockout on the ground against Ken Stone. Jorgensen, who fought in the final WEC bantamweight championship bout before WEC folded into the UFC, fended off a couple of submission attempts and landed a powerful knockout punch despite Stone's solid guard. Jorgensen landed a couple of follow-ups, but referee Steve Mazzagatti was already on his way to wave him away from the limp Stone.

• In the first fight of the night, bantamweight Reuben Duran took his first UFC win in two tries, finishing a back-and-forth bout with Francisco Rivera with a rear naked choke in the third round.

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